


Busted

by masterofmyfate



Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: Basically a few years before the series and before they meet Zack, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Milo and Melissa, Serious Injuries, but not in detail, i just love their friendship, mild descriptions of injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 11:48:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25969201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masterofmyfate/pseuds/masterofmyfate
Summary: *cue 'Busted' music sting*Before getting seventeen broken bones, Milo's old record was sixteen. This takes place a couple years before Melissa and Milo meet Zack. He wakes up in the hospital, and he and Melissa get a moment to talk about it.
Relationships: Melissa Chase/Milo Murphy
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	Busted

Melissa sighed and rubbed her eyes, trying to refocus on the textbook on her lap but it was already looking more like a Monet than math. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt this drained.

“M-Melissa? Is that you?”

“Milo!” Pages immediately fluttered to the floor as she surged to her feet and bounded to the side of the hospital bed. She smiled in relief.

He smiled back and winced. His voice was shaky and small, but it just felt good to hear him talking. “What…happened?”

“You got hit by a bus,” she answered, very gently touching his arm. Well, touching the cast. Honestly there was more cast and bandage than actual Milo showing at this point, but who was counting?

“Ah.” He chuckled and stiffened. “Ouch.”

Melissa raised her eyebrows. “What’s so funny?”

“Well,” and she could tell by the way his mouth quirked up that he was trying not to laugh this time, “I just think it’s a shame I got so BUSted up!”

She instinctively moved to punch him for the pun, but realized what she was doing and halted at the last second. “Oops. Force of habit. Terrible pun, Milo.”

“You could say it’s quite the—“

“Don’t you dare—“

“PUNishment!”

She leaned one forearm on the bed’s railing and buried her face with her other palm. “Why?” she asked no one in particular. He started to laugh, but inhaled sharply after a second. Melissa immediately straightened up and looked at him in concern.

He smiled but his voice was rough with strain. “I’m fine, I just—oof. Laughing. Hurts.”

She tried to grin back but couldn’t quite manage it.

“Anyway,” he continued, making a thinly veiled attempt to change the subject. “Why are you here, Melissa? Not that I’m complaining, honestly, I’m _really_ glad to see you. But aren’t hospitals open only to family? And for that matter, where’s mine?” His brown eyes flicked around as though he’d spot them in the room somewhere, but it was just the two of them and the equipment pumping all kinds of stuff into his system.

“Well, your Mom’s still out of town with your sister, and apparently they have a one Murphy at a time policy so they won’t let your dad come to the hospital. He was pretty annoyed about that. Put up a real fight, and only agreed to stay home if they’d let me visit you instead.”

“Oh,” Milo mumbled, processing the information. “That makes sense. Sorry about that, Melissa.”

She was unable to stifle a yawn as it clambered out of her throat. “Sorry for what?”

“It’s finals week, and you probably have loads to study.”

She shrugged, tucking a rogue strand of red hair behind her ears. “So do you. Besides, we were gonna study together anyways, and it’s the weekend. Not like I have anything else I should be doing.”

“Thanks…wait, did you say _weekend_?”

Melissa flinched. She had meant to fill him in on the details of the accident in a slightly more delicate manner. “Um…yeah.”

He frowned. The machine in the corner keeping track of his heart rate started to beep a little faster as he tried to put the pieces together. “But that means—it’s been— _it’s been five days_? Wait, what day in the weekend is this? How long have I—?”

The hospital bed creaked as Milo shifted and tried to sit up, and Melissa’s arms shot out to stop him. “Whoa, there! Slow down, Wolverine, you’re not healed yet!”

“But, Melissa, I—“

“I know you have a lot of questions, but you gotta take it easy. I’m serious.”

Reluctantly, Milo stopped straining and lowered himself back down. He was sweating slightly with the effort and probably with the pain, although he wasn’t showing much other sign of it. Typical. “Okay…level with me. How bad am I?”

“Objectively? Or by Murphy standards?”

“Mm. How about somewhere in the middle?”

She sighed. “Well, you have sixteen broken bones so that’s a new record.”

He raised his eyebrows, ignoring the stitch going across one of them. “Really? Neat. All from one accident with a bus?”

“Technically fourteen broke from the bus. The other two were from a bulkhead that fell on you when you were getting wheeled in.”

“Gotcha…. I gotta be honest; I don’t really remember exactly how I _got_ into an accident in the first place. Was I walking to school?”

She nodded. “There was a tow truck on a nearby hill dragging a broken bus and the connecting cable snapped. Apparently it rolled straight over you.”

He let out a low whistle. “I must’ve been pretty distracted. Usually I can avoid things like that! I’ll have to do better next time…hey, are you okay?”

Melissa didn’t realize she had a tear coming down her face until he said that. She gave a half-smile and quickly rubbed it off with the sleeve of the sweater she’d been wearing because who knew hospitals could get so cold? “Asked the kid in the full body cast,” she retorted.

He frowned. “I mean it.” As a thought struck him, his expression changed from concern to alarm. “Wait, were you with me when it happened? Did you get hurt? Was anyone else there?!”

“No, no,” she hurried to reassure him, “it was just you. And Diogee, but somehow he fell into a sewer right as it happened so he didn’t get hurt at all. I was supposed to meet you the next block over, so when I heard the sirens, I went over and found you.”

Milo grimaced. “Yikes.”

“Yeah…” She shook her head to try and get rid of the image. Sometimes they joked that Milo was made of rubber, since it usually took one heck of a Murphy’s Law dose to even scratch him, but on occasion, the universe would just tap them on the shoulder with a little reminder that he was, in fact, flesh and blood after all. “I’m just glad they had the hindsight to bring back-up ambulances.” It had taken three heart-stopping transfers to the back-ups to successfully transport Milo all the way to the emergency room.

Milo was still watching her with that oddly pensive look. “Melissa, what’s wrong? You look…upset.”

Was he really asking that question? Melissa pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. “Yes, I’m upset. It’s not your fault, it’s just…ugh!” She stomped a foot in an unexpectedly childish gesture. “It’s not that you’re not great the way you are. You’re incredible! You’re Milo! You’re my best friend and no law or curse or whatever is going to change that! But I just—” Melissa huffed and folded her arms, her jaw snapping shut as she struggled to find the right words but they just wouldn’t come.

“Oh…” Milo’s eyebrows knitted together and something heavy passed over his eyes. “I…I get it.” He took a deep breath as if to brace himself for whatever he was going to say next. “Look, I just want you to know that I completely understand. I know it’s a lot to handle, and trust me, I get it if you think it might be better to…get some distance for a while.”

Her arms dropped slack to her sides and she stared at him like he’d grown a second head.

“What.”

He glanced away now, finding something incredibly interesting in the bandages lining his left elbow. “I’m just saying. I want you to be safe, too, and I wouldn’t mind one bit if you thought that maybe you needed a break. From Murphy’s Law. I mean.”

There was a long beat of silence. 

“Milo…please know that I say this with all the affection, care, and respect that I can muster: that was possibly the _dumbest_ thing you’ve ever said.” 

He blinked and glanced back at Melissa to see her interlacing her fingers against her nose in a quintessential expression of disbelief. “You mean…that’s not what’s worrying you?”

She threw her hands in the air. “Of course not! Dude, we became friends when we got dragged by the hubcap of the school bus through midair and city streets as _first graders_! We narrowly escaped death! You should know by now that danger isn’t a dealbreaker in a best friend for me!”

His mouth fell as open as it could considering the neck brace. “But…I got rolled over by a _bus_ , Melissa. An actual bus! If you were there, you could’ve died!”

“But you _were_ there, and you almost died! _That_ is why I’m upset!” she said, gesturing violently for emphasis. She huffed and plopped back into her chair, scooting it closer to the hospital bed so he could see her more easily. “Look, I know there’s no changing it and I know I probably shouldn’t let it bother me this bad, but frankly, it just doesn’t seem fair.”

“Fair?” Milo’s forehead crinkled in confusion.

She grabbed onto the bed’s siderails with a hand, knuckles going white from pressure. “It’s unfair that you have to constantly save yourself from things like flying buses and stampeding llamas wherever you go. The universe is _literally_ out to get you. People say that about themselves, but for you, it’s not even a slight exaggeration. It’s just a fact! A cruel, painful, stupid fact…”

“Hey,” he said gently, and she realized he’d moved his arm so that his right hand fell clumsily onto her knuckles in an attempt to reassure her. Like _she_ was the one who needed comforting. “It’s going to be okay.”

The hospital’s electric system elected that moment to go out with a loud _POP!_

“Hm,” said Melissa in the complete darkness.

“I was wondering when it was going to kick in,” mused Milo to himself. “Hey, Melissa? I think I saw my backpack by the wall. Do you think you could—”

“On it,” she answered, standing up and carefully feeling her way back to the wall. She felt her pockets for her phone but realized she’d dumped it onto the floor along with her textbook and it would probably be more difficult to find than the backpack. She’d set Milo’s backpack right next to her own, so it should be—

“Aha!”

“Great! Okay, there should be a few flashlights tucked into the right side near the front.”

“Right side…” Melissa muttered, biting her tongue as she felt around on the inside. She sure felt _something_ … As she brought it out, her stomach fell. Bits of plastic clacked against each other in her palm. “I think they’re broken.”

“Oh, that’s probably from the bus. I think I put a titanium-grade one in there, though, maybe that one’s not broken?”

She felt around again and sure enough, her fingers brushed against a small cylinder. She tugged it out and tried to click it on. “Hey, it works!” she said, squinting her eyes against the white glare.

“That’s great! You know, this blackout is strange. Typically hospitals have an emergency generator in the case of an emergency. If it broke, then…gee. I hope the other patients are fine.”

“I’m going to see if there’s anyone out there fixing the problem.” Melissa stood and carefully headed for the door. “Don’t move,” she instructed before leaving.

Truth be told, Milo felt like an over-microwaved burrito that had accidentally stepped on a Lego, and then been danced upon by an army of vengeful wasps. Whatever painkillers they’d probably given him to help him sleep had apparently worn off. Everything felt fuzzy, but after the disturbing revelation that he’d already been out cold for several days, he was determined to stay conscious at least for a little while.

Fortunately, it appeared that his lying perfectly still could muffle the worst of Murphy’s Law, because it only took a few minutes before dim emergency lights came on.  
When Melissa came back, she had some Capri Suns in hand. She answered his question before he could ask it. “It’s just this wing of the hospital that has a blackout, and currently, you’re the only patient over here. They moved everyone else the first night you got here, apparently. Preventive measures and all that.”

Milo brightened. “Oh, thank goodness. Thanks,” he added as she popped one open for him and adjusted it so he could sip it without holding. Even though there was an IV hooked up to his veins, his mouth still felt dry.

She sat back down and slurped noisily at her Capri Sun, positioning the flashlight so its light reflected off the white ceiling and added another little glow to the room. “I let them know that you woke up, and they said they’d send someone soon to check on you. Something about putting on a safety gear suit first.”

“That makes sense,” said Milo, before another bout of silence hung in the room.

Finally he got up the courage to ask another question he’d been wondering. “Did they mention how long it would take for me to get back on my feet?” He managed to wiggle his toes slightly, making her laugh.

“Do you want the optimistic estimate or the realistic one?”

He thought about it. “How about somewhere in the middle?”

“Four months, maybe.”

Milo sighed. He’d been looking forward to summer vacation, but now it sounded like he’d be spending it doing a lot of physical therapy. _Look on the bright side_ , he told himself. “Well, at least I’ve got plenty of room for signatures this time! I bet I can get everyone in Danville to sign my casts.”

The Capri Sun started to slip, and Melissa caught it before it could hit the floor and probably kick off a chain reaction that would end in Milo’s bed being snapped in half along with his back. “I bet you will,” she agreed.

Wow. Everything was going blurry, either with exhaustion or pain or something else, he couldn’t tell. At this point, he didn’t particularly care. “It’ll be…” he whispered, eyes shutting for a nap, “…an adventure…”

Within moments, his chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm. A surge of fondness and helplessness battled for control of Melissa’s insides as she glanced over her best friend, or at least the bits she could see past the mummy-like wrappings. People always underestimated Milo—or they _overestimated_ him, in all the wrong ways. It was like they looked at him and only saw the hurricane. The constant stream of accidental disasters he couldn’t help but leave in his wake. They didn’t see _him_ at the epicenter. Calm. Determined. Kind, no matter what.

She restrained a sigh—she felt like she’d been sighing a lot, lately—and gathered up her things she’d dumped on the floor earlier. Somehow her textbook had managed to crumple every single page in its fall, rendering the tiny text practically impossible to read, and her phone’s screen had cracked. Murphy’s Law. _Whatever, I should probably take a nap anyway._

When the doctor opened the door, clumsily tottering in with the Hazmat Safety Suit and looking more like a marshmallow than a medical professional, he was unsurprised to find the red-haired girl asleep and drooling in her chair, a hand slung protectively over Milo’s wrist. It wasn't the first time he'd found her like that during the week.

“Huh,” he said to himself as he quietly ambled up to check the medical instruments’ readings. “Wish I had a friend like that.”

As he stepped next to the IV, though, his zipper caught on the cord, which pulled on a loose bedspring, which recoiled to hit an oxygen tank, only it _wasn’t_ an oxygen tank, it had gotten mistakenly swapped with a cotton candy maker in a warehouse, which turned itself _on_ , which began spurting cottony strings of sugar everywhere, including the rusty ceiling fan—


End file.
